AUBURN – The game was tied late in the fourth quarter on a fourth-and-goal at the Edward Little two when Oxford Hills coach Bob Austin walked into his offense’s huddle with just one message.
“I told my offensive line I’ve been an offensive line coach for too many years to kick a field goal at that point,” he said. “They’ve got to get us in the end zone.”
They did, or more specifically, they got tailback Jim Bower into the end zone with the game-winning touchdown that gave the Vikings a vital 21-14 Pine Tree Conference win over the Red Eddies.
Oxford Hills asserted its running game and Bower ran for 134 of his 194 yards and both of his touchdowns in the second half as the Vikings improved to 3-2.
“(EL is) down. They’re depleted. They’re hurt. That’s what we told the kids – wear em down,” Austin said.
“In the second half, they kind of wore us down,” said EL coach Jim Hersom, whose team dropped to 2-4. “The Bower kid runs hard. I give credit to them. They’ve got a good back and they’ve got some size.”
After mixing the run with the pass in the first half, the Vikings ran Bower almost exclusively up the gut in the second half. Three straight runs up the middle by Bower moved them from the EL 7 to the 2 with 5:13 left. EL called blitz out of the time out, but fullback Alex Waite caught enough of the blitzing linebacker to allow Bower to bounce outside to the left and in for the score.
“We worked on iso’ a lot this week and blast,'” Bower said, describing the Vikings’ power running plays. “They were looking for the iso’. They stuffed me good twice in a row. Then the end came on a blitz and I bounced it outside and got some great blocking.”
The Eddies crossed into Oxford Hills territory on the ensuing drive, but their bid to tie it was halted by Ron Packard’s sack of Troy Barnies, his second of the game, on third down, that forced them to punt with 3:14 left. The EL defense was unable to stop the Vikings from running out the clock.
Following a scoreless first quarter, Garner LaValley (29 rushes, 154 yards) put EL on the board first with a 33-yard TD run with 7:55 to go in the first half. Oxford Hills tied it by going to the air late in the half. Ben Ryerson (9-for-15, 125 yards) drove the Vikes 97 yards in just under three minutes, connecting with Ethan Sutton on a hitch-and-go for a 31-yard TD pass that, following Waite’s extra point, gave them a 7-6 advantage at the half.
EL grabbed the lead again on its second possession of the third quarter on QB Troy Barnies’ nine-yard TD run. Oxford Hills quickly knotted it up again on its ensuing drive when Bower ran up the middle for a 12-yard score with 1:39 left in the third quarter.
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